John Smith’s death. We had a minute’s silence in our full year’s education lecture at Uni.
King’s Cross fire.
Too many IRA attacks.
The Iranian Embassy siege.
Building the Thames Barrier (and the full sized billboard ads of a flooded London which terrified me as a child).
The bombing of HMS Sheffield during the Falkland’s conflict (likewise the sinking of the Belgrano).
The miner’s strike & Arthur Scargill in his donkey jacket & comb over (ditto Michael Foot).
The sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise (and the subsequent Townsend Thoreson roll on, roll off, roll over’ jokes that were tasteless even as a kid).
The Challenger disaster.
Chernobyl of course, but that’s well known even today. Our teachers kept us in during lunch time that week when it was raining (it was secondary school, we were usually kicked out in rain, storms & snow) & having indoor PE lessons. Our physics form teacher telling us to wash our hands when we got home before we ate anything.
The morning after they televised Threads.